1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system, and deals more particularly with a method, system, and computer program product for enabling messaging systems to use alternative message delivery mechanisms. Use of this technique extends the real-time awareness aspect of instant messaging, so that messages may still be delivered from a sender using an instant messaging system even though the intended receiver is not currently logged on to an instant messaging system (but is otherwise available), or to deliver a message from a sender using a wireless messaging service via a mechanism for which a recipient has registered his availability.
2. Description of the Related Art
Instant messaging systems provide for instant, real-time communication between users who are connected to the system through an on-line or electronic networking environment. Examples of instant messaging systems include Yahoo!(copyright) Messenger, AOL Instant MessengerSM, and Sametime(trademark). (xe2x80x9cYahoo!xe2x80x9d is a registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc., xe2x80x9cAOL Instant Messengerxe2x80x9d is a service mark of America Online, Inc., and xe2x80x9cSametimexe2x80x9d is a trademark of Lotus Development Corporation.) Such systems are becoming quite popular among users of networks such as the Internet, World Wide Web (hereinafter, xe2x80x9cWebxe2x80x9d), and internal intranets because they are easy to use and provide a simple way for one user to send a message to another user.
Instant messaging systems provide real-time awareness of who is logged on. Typically, an instant messaging system (hereinafter, xe2x80x9cIMSxe2x80x9d) user has an address book containing names or nicknames for those people with whom he communicates. The entries in this address book are used for selecting a message recipient. The IMS typically indicates, using a visual cue (such as different icons or different fonts), which of the people are logged on to the system and which are not. For a message to be sent from a sending user to a receiving user, both users must be currently logged on to an IMS (which may be the same IMS, or a different IMS). Otherwise, the system will not allow the sender to send his message. By ensuring that the receiver is available when a message is sent to him, the message can be delivered and presented to the recipient nearly instantly (depending on network delay).
Instant messaging systems are distinguished from e-mail systems in that e-mail is not real-time in nature. E-mail systems merely accept electronic messages, and store them for delivery. There is no real-time awareness of whether the message recipient is currently logged on and able to receive the message. Instead, the message is stored until such time as the user logs on to the e-mail system and receives his waiting messages.
There may be a number of situations where the all-or-nothing approach used by instant messaging systems is unwarranted. For example, it may happen that a recipient""s status changes during an on-going communication. In this situation, a sender may be busily typing a message to the recipient, only to find out that the recipient has gone off-linexe2x80x94and the message is thus rejected by the IMS. Rather than completely discarding the sender""s message, it would be preferable to provide an alternative technique for delivering the message. In many cases the sender""s message is not time-critical, and a delivery mechanism other than the instant messaging (such as sending the message by e-mail instead of with the IMS) may be suitable to the sender. Selection of an alternative delivery mechanism is not an option of existing instant messaging systems. As yet another example, the recipient may be reachable by an alternative communication mechanism (such as a cellular phone, pager, etc.), even though he is not currently reachable by an IMS. Existing instant messaging systems do not provide users the ability to send messages to such recipients; instead, the sender must choose between not sending the message or physically changing to a different message-delivery system (such as leaving his computer to make a phone call to the recipient, and delivering the message in this manner). Both options are inconvenient and inefficient for users.
Wireless messaging systems such as 2-way paging systems and text messaging services using digital cellular telephone networks are also becoming pervasive. These wireless systems have some of the same characteristics of instant messaging systems. These wireless systems also have a number of drawbacks regarding message delivery. For example, if a particular user receives messages on a 1-way pager, and another user sends a message to this person, the message will not be received if the pager is turned off. Or, if a user has a 2-way pager, he may not receive a sender""s message in a timely manner. That is, if his pager is turned off when the message is sent, he will not receive it until he later turns the pager back on. Also, current wireless messaging systems do not interwork with instant messaging systems, and do not provide the real-time awareness attribute that is a key benefit of an IMS.
Accordingly, a need exists for a technique by which messaging systems can be extended provide their users with the ability to use alternative message delivery mechanisms, such that (i) in the case of an IMS-based sender, messages can be accepted for and delivered to a recipient even though he is not currently logged on to an IMS, and (ii) in the case of a sender using a wireless messaging system, the sender""s message may be sent based on an awareness of how the recipient is currently reachable.
An object of the present invention is to provide a technique to extend the message delivery capabilities of messaging systems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide this technique by enabling messages to be sent from instant messaging systems to users who are reachable through alternative delivery mechanisms, such that messages can be accepted for and delivered to a recipient even though he is not currently logged on to an IMS.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide this technique in a manner that operates according to user preferences.
Yet another object of the present invention is to extend the real-time awareness aspect of wireless messaging systems by enabling a sender to determine a message recipient""s availability.
Still another object of the present invention is to enable messages to be sent in a wireless environment based on alternative delivery mechanisms for which a recipient has registered his availability.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description and in the drawings which follow and, in part, will be obvious from the description or may be learned by practice of the invention.
To achieve the foregoing objects, and in accordance with the purpose of the invention as broadly described herein, the present invention provides a system, method, and computer program product for use in a computing environment, for enabling an instant messaging system (IMS) to use alternative message delivery mechanisms. In one embodiment, this technique comprises: providing a registry comprising an entry for at least one of one or more message recipients, wherein each of the entries comprises: (i) an alternative message delivery mechanism, and (ii) addressing information for the alternative; receiving, from a message sender, a message to be delivered to a selected one of the message recipients; determining, by the IMS, whether the selected one is currently logged on to the IMS or another IMS; delivering the message to the selected one when the determining has a positive result; and forwarding the message on a particular alternative delivery mechanism associated with the recipient when the determining has a negative result and when the particular mechanism is available.
The forwarding preferably further comprises: retrieving an associated entry from the registry using an identifier of the selected one; and delivering the message to an address of the particular mechanism from the retrieved entry. Each entry in the registry may further comprise a constraint associated with the alternative message delivery mechanism, this constraint specifying a condition for use of the associated mechanism, and the forwarding may further comprise: verifying whether the condition from the retrieved entry is met; and determining that the particular mechanism is available only when the condition is met. The message may be rejected when the particular mechanism is not available.
Or, the forwarding process may further comprise notifying the sender of the particular alternative, wherein this forwarding process further requires that the sender accept the particular alternative.
In another embodiment, this technique comprises: providing a registry comprising an entry for at least one of one or more message recipients, wherein each of the entries comprises: (i) one or more an alternative message delivery mechanisms, and (ii) addressing information for each of the alternatives; receiving, from a message sender, a message to be delivered to a selected one of the message recipients; determining, by the IMS, whether the selected one is currently logged on to the IMS or another IMS; delivering the message to the selected one when the determining has a positive result; and forwarding the message on a particular alternative delivery mechanism associated with the recipient when the determining step has a negative result and when the particular mechanism is available.
In this embodiment, the forwarding preferably further comprises: retrieving an associated entry from the registry using an identifier of the selected one; and delivering the message to an address of the particular mechanism from the retrieved entry. Each entry in the registry may further comprise a constraint associated with each of the alternative message delivery mechanisms, each of these constraints specifying a condition for use of the associated mechanism, and the forwarding step may further comprise: iteratively evaluating each of the conditions from the retrieved entry until locating a match; and using the mechanism associated with the matched condition as the particular mechanism. The message may be rejected when none of the conditions are met.
The technique of this embodiment may further comprise: presenting available ones of the alternative delivery mechanisms to the sender when the determining has the negative result; enabling the sender to select from the presented ones; and using, by the forwarding, the selected one as the particular mechanism.
Alternatively in this embodiment, the forwarding process may further comprise selecting an available one of the registered alternative delivery mechanisms associated with the recipient, and notifying the sender of the available one, wherein the forwarding process further requires that the sender accept the available one.
This embodiment may also further comprise: receiving a multiple-recipient message from the sender, wherein the multiple-recipient message is to be delivered to more than one of the message recipients; and wherein: the determining whether the selected one is currently logged on process determines whether each of the message recipients is currently logged on to the IMS;
the delivering the message when the determining has the positive result process delivers the message to each of the message recipients who is currently logged on; and when the determining process has the negative result, the forwarding the message on the particular alternative delivery mechanism process forwards the message to each of the message recipients who is not currently logged using an available mechanism associated with each of the not-logged-on message recipients.
The present invention will now be described with reference to the following drawings, in which like reference numbers denote the same element throughout.